We drove back to my mother's house before sunset. Naomi stayed for dinner and helped my mother organize a list of everyone who needed to be contacted over the next week. Afterward, when we stood beside her car in the driveway, she told me something I had not considered. "You don't have to become a different person to survive this," she said. "The woman who helped terrified passengers find their seats is the same woman who can protect herself. You just have to treat your own situation as worthy of that much care."
I watched her taillights disappear down the road. In the workshop, my father's old clock ticked quietly above the pegboard. For the first time since I stepped off the aircraft, I thought about the future not as a threat but as something that might still contain choices of my own.
The following Monday, the first company payroll crisis made the local news. Carter Ridge Construction had several active projects in North Texas, and hundreds of people depended on the company or its subcontractors for their income. The suspected transfers had disrupted a line of credit and thrown the business into uncertainty. Work crews were still showing up, but managers were asking questions Daniel could not answer without disclosing matters under review.
I watched a television reporter interview a man named Luis Ortega, a site supervisor who had worked with Ryan since the company owned only two trucks. Luis stood outside a half-finished medical office building, hard hat tucked under his arm, and spoke with the careful anger of someone who could not afford to lose a day's wages. "We're not asking for anything extra," he said. "We're asking to be paid for work we've already done. The families of these crews can't live on promises."
I recognized him immediately. Luis had come to our house for barbecues, helped Ryan carry furniture into our first home, and brought his children to a holiday party where I had handed out cookies. I remembered his wife telling me they were saving for their daughter's college tuition. Hearing his voice on the news made it impossible to think of Ryan's conduct as a private offense committed against me alone.
I called Daniel. He answered on the second ring. "I'm watching the coverage," I said. "What happens to those people?"
"We're trying to keep essential projects operating while the independent review is under way. The minority investors have hired outside advisers, but the accounts are complicated and the lenders want documentation. I'm not going to pretend we have a simple answer."
"Ryan always said the crews were his family."
Daniel was silent for a moment. "He said that a lot."
"Did they know he was moving their money?"
"Some managers knew suppliers were being paid late. They didn't know why. Neither did everyone in finance. I've told the investigators what I know. The next decisions will be made with oversight, not with Ryan making promises no one can verify."